September 24 – The false accounting case that saw Juventus former chairman Andrea Agnelli and three other executives come under the microscope has ended after a Rome judge accepted a plea bargain request.
The deal sees the suspension of agreed prison sentences of 20 months for Agnelli, 18 months for ex-sporting director Fabio Paratici and 14 months for former vice-chairman Pavel Nedved.
Former chief executive Maurizio Arrivabene was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Under Italian law a plea bargain is not deemed an admission of guilt.
“The decision to request that this suspended sentence be applied, without recognizing responsibility — and therefore coherent with my position of innocence — was quite difficult,” said Agnelli in a statement.
Agnelli added that because the trial is still in the initial phase and preliminary hearings, “the alternative would have been remaining in limbo for a very long time.
Agnelli was given two bans from football by the Italian sports authorities with the second of those bans ending next month meaning he could return to football.
In November 2022 the entire board of Juventus, including Agnelli and Nedved, resigned en masse, plunging one of the world’s most famous clubs into crisis.
A preliminary investigation by the Turin Public Prosecutor’s Office into fraudulent accounting around alleged hidden payments to players had found there was a case to be answered.
Prosecutors who had been investigating since 2021, were examining whether Juventus, which is listed on the Milan stock exchange, had cashed in on illegal commissions from transfer and loans of players.
Juventus was fined €156,000 and also reached a settlement with about 75 investors who the club will pay just over €1 million.
Juventus said in a statement that “while reiterating the correctness of its conduct and the soundness of its defensive arguments…(it) has deemed it appropriate to resort to this instrument in the best interest of the company itself, its shareholders and all stakeholders.”
Agnelli is no stranger to controversy. He had previously been given a one-year ban for his alleged role in the sale of match tickets to the club’s ultras fans that were later resold at a profit. The ‘ultras’, allegedly had links to organised crime.
Agnelli was also one of the masterminds behind the failed breakaway Super League proposal. The spectacular failure of that proposal saw him resign his presidency of the European Club Association (ECA), while becoming persona non grata within the corridors of UEFA.
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